Arlington is a county, not a city — a technicality that surprises plenty of newcomers who assume a place this dense and urban must be one.
Whether it should stay that way is now an open question. As part of a broader review of its form of government, some advocates have floated dropping the county label and becoming Virginia’s newest independent city.
In Virginia, independent cities aren’t part of any county — they run their own courts, schools, roads and tax collection. Arlington already does nearly all of that. It maintains its own streets (one of the few Virginia counties that does), runs its own buses and provides a full slate of urban services, so the practical differences may be smaller than the label suggests.
There are catches. County Attorney Ryan Samuel cautioned the County Board that Arlington’s county manager plan — a form of government unique to Arlington, in place since 1932 — grants it powers other localities don’t have, and that some could be lost in a switch to a city or another structure. His 33-page report flagged both seen and hidden risks in making the leap.
There’s also a timing problem: a longstanding state moratorium on creating new Virginia cities runs through at least 2032, so the switch couldn’t happen before then even if Arlington wanted it.
Cityhood is only one option on the table. The governance review is also weighing changes like expanding the five-member County Board, electing its chair separately, adding district-based seats and ending Arlington’s practice of electing a board member every year. A preliminary report is due by the end of October — and the debate has surfaced before, including a near-overhaul back in 1970.
Despite the moratorium — and with any real change years off regardless — it’s a question that seems to resonate with locals, as one of last week’s most-read stories. So today we’re asking: should Arlington become a city?
